The Cure
by NightFury812
Summary: In a ruined scorched city, Thomas awakens and begins his new life without any memories of his past. A group of survivors known as the Gladers rescue him, but problems instantly begin to arise with Thomas' presence. Thomas/Newt. AU.
1. Chapter 1: The Scorched City

**The Cure**

Chapter 1: The Scorched City

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><p>Consciousness eluded him, his first of many struggles in this new world.<p>

With pure willpower alone, the boy forced his eyes open and groaned in pain. The room wasn't necessarily bright, but after sleeping for what feels like days, the afternoon sunlight was torture.

Deciding to bite the bullet and deal with the pain, the boy reopened his eyes and blinked back tears. He's in a ruined looking operating room. Everything was hazy at first, so it took awhile for him to notice the way it looked like the end of a horror movie scene around him. As he swung his legs over the edge of the metal table he had been lying on, he finally saw the bodies. All around him were corpses were scattered across the floor. Puddles of blood littered the floor in several locations. It was a terrifying thing to process when the boy couldn't even recall why he was here in the first place.

Taking a few big gulping breaths of metallic smelling air, the boy stumbled out of the room. Feeling a gut retching pain in his abdomen, he kneeled over in the hallway and gagged. His empty stomach clenched unhappily as he was forced to dry heave for several minutes. It was too much to comprehend. Not to mention that everything simply hurt to begin with. How long had he really been at this place?

Ignoring the other copious amounts of gore and destruction around the facility, the boy shakily made his way down to the ground floor. He had yet to find another living human being. His racing thoughts fought against the mind block that prevented him from remembering any of his past life. Feeling lost and confused, he panicked as he opened the front doors and was met with a familiar sight of death and destruction. In the middle of a post apocalyptic city, the boy sunk to his knees and succumbed to the total fear that consumed him.

_Where am I? What's going on? Why can't I remember anything?!"_

Gripping his shaggy, dark hair with trembling hands, the boy closed his eyes to block out the sight of death everywhere. Was he the last person alive or something? Why was everyone dead?

In some places, buildings were still partially caught on fire, and loud screeching metal noises sounded in every direction. The sturdiness of the skyscrapers around him was being weakened under the strain of constant burning flames.

Choking back a few despairing whimpers of fear and despair. The boy flinched as some rubble fell from a partially collapsed building. The sun was starting to go down and the remaining light was fading away. Instinct screamed for him to find shelter. As he got to his feet, a flashback flickered in his inner mind, showing him the inside of a house. A movie was playing in a living room and a group of faceless people was gathered on the adjacent couch laughing at the screen.

As soon as the image vanished, the boy clutched at it in his inner memory, replaying it over and over again. It was his only memory so far that was pleasant to remember. Even though he couldn't remember anything particularly significant from it, it meant the entire world to him at that moment.

He ventured around the ruined city, walking at least a few blocks away from where he first woke up. It was when the beginnings of darkness fell upon the world when he heard it. It was like an unworldly moan that started up from the sewer tunnels then echoed around the streets. Unlike he thought previously, he was definitely not alone anymore.

_Oh God! Shelter! I need shelter! Come on body! Hurry up move faster!_

Fearing for his miserable existence, the boy ran towards a back alleyway and watched in horror. What appeared to be zombies dragged themselves out of a nearby sewer tunnel entrance in the middle of the road and began shrieking in agitation at each other. He was going to die before the night was over.

Continuing to peak out from behind the brick wall that hide him. The boy felt a cold chill down his spine as a sewer grate shifted behind him deeper in the alleyway.

"It's… fresh. It's… tasty." The creature rasped as it eyed him with interest. It was halfway onto the concrete, and it hurried to crawl the rest of the way out before lumbering towards the petrified boy.

These things could talk?!

With a yelp, the boy sprinted out into the road without another thought, panic overtaking his rational thinking mind. Not before long, he had attracted the attention of many different zombie beings in the streets. They trailed after him hungrily. With his body as weak as it felt, it wouldn't be long before they caught him. Exhaustion flooded his weary limbs and made escape nearly impossible.

For the first time ever, he opened his dry mouth and screamed for help. At first it came out as a half choked croak, then with more clarity he rasped out. "Help! Somebody! Help!"

_I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! They're gonna catch me! I'm all alone and I'm gonna die!_

Pushing off a brick wall as he made a sharp turn down another street, the boy almost fell again as one of his legs buckled. A few muscles screamed in agony as he skipped a step and accidently pulled them at a wrong angle before running once more. A prominent limp started in his right leg as he urged himself on. He needed to survive. He wanted to survive.

_Come on, Minho!_ _Don't worry, Greenie we're on our way. Don't you dare shucking die on us!_

"Help!" The boy yelped as the voice reached him with such clarity. His brain quickly supplied to him that it was just inside his head though. There wasn't actually anyone there. However, the clear sound of someone else's voice encouraged him to keep going, whether it was a flashback or not.

He made it down another street when his exhaustion finally kicked in full force. One second he was jogging then in the next he was on the ground. His exposed flesh scraped up on the concrete where his torn up clothes couldn't cover. The human like monsters were already rounding the corner behind him. They instantly crowed in triumph at his defeated figure that trembled helplessly in pain.

His head pounded at the probable concussion he had just given himself when it hit him.

_Thomas._

His name was Thomas! He could die knowing what he was called at the very least. A small part of him still willed desperately that this was just some nightmare manifesting in his slumbering mind. That he was safe in his warm bed, far away from this mess and had a family that loved him. None of this could really be happening.

As the first zombie approached, ready to bite into him, something flew over Thomas' head and slammed through the monster's skull. It was dead instantly as it hit the ground and lay still. Turning his head slightly to see what had happened, Thomas paused in shock at seeing a thick spear penetrating through the creature's head.

"Attack! Don't let them get away!" A loud, accented voice yelled over the screams of both human and monster's alike. Within seconds a fight took place on the streets as human teenagers with drawn out weapons launched themselves at the zombies that fled for safety. They chased after them down the streets, and eventually the place began to clear out.

It wasn't long before two remaining boys grabbed Thomas and began to drag him away from the street. He fought reflexively at first until when the voice from before entered his mind.

_Shuck it all, he's heavy. Where in the bloody heck did this one come from?_

"Stop that, we're trying to help you!" One of the boys screamed down at him as the hurried across the pavement. He was an Asian teen about his age Thomas guessed and didn't look in the mood for his pointless struggling. He was only making their job harder and they seemed to be trying to save him. Without replying back, Thomas went limp allowed the two to manipulate him towards the building across the street.

"Minho grab his front, I'll lift his legs so we can get him up the stairs!" The blonde shouted.

Minho quickly reached under both of Thomas' arms while the blonde picked up his legs. They hurried at a much faster pace this time and were up the stairs in no time. The others didn't follow after them though which confused Thomas, but he found himself more focused on his current situation. Although he was exhausted and could barely so much as twitch he found himself staring up at the blonde that was obviously the leader of the two.

The lean boy voiced for them to stop suddenly before nudging a door open in the hallway they were in. "In here, let's go. There's some supplies that should hold us overnight."

"What about the others?" Minho panted as they set Thomas down on a single bare mattress in the corner of the room. The blonde limped over to the other corner of the room and peeled open a small closet. Thomas briefly wondered if this place had once been an apartment bedroom of some kind.

"They'll be fine. We'll meet up at the glade tomorrow, but until then we'll rest at this place." He picked up a couple bottles of water from the closet and tossed one to Minho before turning to look at Thomas. "I'm not bloody carrying this kid two miles across the city."

"… Thomas."

"Hm, did he just say something?" Minho asked with a frown as he turned to face towards Thomas.

"Is your name Thomas then?" The blonde questioned with a quirked eyebrow as he traveled back across the room.

"Yeah… Wh-?"

"No, no questions right now," The blonde interrupted. "Sleep and we'll talk in the morning. You look like klunk right now and could probably use some rest."

"He looks like he's got one foot in the grave already. Is he even going to make it through the night?"

"He will," At this, the blonde's brown eyes stared intently down at Thomas who willed himself to stay awake. "This one's got spirit."

"Or he's just crazy! Who just decides to run through the streets after dark when the cranks come out to hunt? I think he's just suicidal."

"Maybe," The blonde said it in an agreeing tone, but the way his stance remand unchanged spoke otherwise. " Either way, let's all get some sleep before the sun comes up. It's been a bloody awful day already, and tomorrow will only be worse."

_I know you're the telepath from before. You came from the lab, right?_

Thomas winced as the beginnings of a headache seared through his skull. The voice clearly belonged to the blonde's this time, and it was then that he began to worry. He'd thought maybe a half an hour ago that the voice came from one of his past memories. However, now he had to deal with the much freakier fact that he could communicate telepathically with this stranger.

_Yeah… I think so. _

The blonde gave no indication that he had heard anything as he sat beside Minho against the wall and discussed night shifts with him. Thomas' eyes finally slid shut as he surrendered to his body's demands for rest. He began to slip away when the boy responded back to his surprise.

_I'll explain as much as I can tomorrow. As far as I know, only a few of us have made it out of that place and survived._

_ What's so special about the lab?_

Thomas peaked open an eyelid to see the blonde watching him with interest.

_I said I'd explain tomorrow, Greenie._

The blonde's lip twitched into an amused smile as Minho finally settled in a pile of blankets on the floor nearby. It looked as if he was taking the first shift tonight.

_Thomas. Not Greenie. _Thomas corrected as irritation crawled down his spine. He was proud of remembering his real name. It was the one thing that he could remember accurately that was his. _What should I call you?_

"Newt."

Thomas flinched at the sudden noise as the blonde answered his question out loud. Minho grumbled and swatted at Newt's leg before he settled down again moments later.

_Night, Tommy._

Still feeling stunned by his confirmation that he was directly communicating with the blonde in his head. Thomas nodded slightly before passing out with Minho in a matter of seconds. Even though he had just met these two, he instinctively felt safe in their presence. Maybe he did have some luck on his side after all. Yet, most importantly, he wasn't alone in this crazy, beat up world.

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><p><strong>AN: I saw Maze Runner about a week ago and I've seen it twice since, and then I read the books, and now I'm writing this… I'm a bit obsessed right now, but yeah. I have a couple chapters typed up so far, and I've got a vague idea on where I'm going with this story. So I guess I'll see where this goes…**


	2. Chapter 2: The Stadium

**The Cure**

Chapter 2: The Stadium

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><p>Being shaken awake sucked.<p>

With only the previous days memories of horrific events, Thomas automatically assumed the worst. He lashed out and decked his attacker square in the jaw, earning a startled yelp in return.

Laughter burst from the other side of the room while the person beside him cursed profusely.

"Oh man, he got you good, Minho."

"Shut up!"

Feeling a bit guilty, but not enough to apologize, Thomas groaned as he sat up and took in the dimly lit room from the night before. The early morning sun was beginning to rise, and the screams of hungry monsters in the streets were dying down in volume.

"Maybe he'll be a builder if he keeps this tough guy impression up."

"He's too scrawny. The other guys would break him if the physical labor didn't first." Minho argued. Rubbing his sore jaw, he stood up and walked over to Newt who was busy restocking a few supplies in the travel backpacks.

The blonde glanced up with a smirk as he caught Thomas' sleepy gaze. "Ready for today, Tommy. It's going to be a bloody awful adventure."

"Yeah, sounds like fun."

His mouth felt like sandpaper and he winced as he tried to swallow with a dry throat. Seeing his discomfort, Newt tossed him a water bottle that he quickly opened and chugged like a desert survivor.

"Whoa, easy there, Greenie. Don't want to puke that back up first thing in the morning." Newt warned as Minho slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked to the door.

"Come on guys, we need to hurry," Minho said as he peered into the hallway and motioned for them to follow before rushing out of the room.

Newt sighed before limping after him. "Always in such a bloody hurry," He mumbled under his breath before saying in a louder voice. "Wait up, Tommy isn't even off the bed yet!"

Thomas quickly rolled off the mattress and stood achingly to his feet. Every part of him felt like knifes were being buried into his flesh. The overpowering feeling of pain nearly took his breath away as the room swayed around him. How was he going to keep up with these guys if he could barely stand for a few seconds?

Newt paused in the doorway and frowned as he glanced back at Thomas to see his pained expression.

_You okay, Tommy?_

"Stop doing that!" Thomas snapped as a spike of pain seared through his skull. It wasn't horrible, but it just added to the overall aching feeling.

"Sorry, it's an old habit," The blonde apologized sincerely as he stepped back into the room. "You will be alright though?"

"Yeah," Thomas forced out as he stumbled forward so that he stood beside Newt. "I can't move that fast, but I should be fine."

"As long as we don't have to carry you, I'm okay with that." Newt replied with a grin.

They both carried on in silence and traveled down the stairs at a slow pace. In the lobby, Minho was anxiously watching the streets, switching between several different windows to keep track of the last two stragglers left in the open.

Thomas watched the teen do this for another minute before he grew tired and decided to sit on the floor. Newt stared down at him and chuckled at the randomness of the action before he too joined him on the floor. "Minho, give it another ten minutes. Let's just wait it out then leave when the streets are clear. I don't feel like running away from another hoard again after what happened last night."

Minho shook his head and joined them after a brief moment of indecision. "We need to get back. I didn't meet up with the other runners last night."

"Yeah, I'm sure Jorge probably thinks we're both dead too."

"What did he expect? For us to carry a Greenie all the way back to the glade in the dark. No shucking way we could've done that!"

Thomas tried keep up with their conversation quietly, but in the end his curiosity won out. "Who's Jorge?"

Newt rolled his eyes and groaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly in frustration before sarcastically replying. "Our new brilliant leader."

"How many of you guys are there?"

"About fifty," Minho answered gruffly as he turned to glance out the front windows again. "Looks like there's just one crank left now."

"We've basically got a system down where everyone's got assigned jobs in order to survive in this mess of a city. You've got the slicers, builders, med-jacks, and so on. We just live on three simple rules. Do your part, respect the other gladers, and never go out in the city after dark. Understand so far?" Newt questioned to see if he was keeping up. Thomas nodded and waited patiently for the blonde to continue, eager to learn as much as he could.

"We used to hide out in the mall, but within the last two years we've moved to the football stadium. There are places to grow food, plenty of shelter, and lots of space to move around. It has a pretty nice set up so far, but you'll see for yourself later. I'll explain more when we get there, but we've got quite a lot of ground to cover.

"The last crank just left." Minho announced before getting up and heading for the door.

Newt and Thomas followed after him quickly, and without another word the three boys rushed outside and began their grueling journey towards the stadium.

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><p>They took several breaks along the way, and it was a few hours later that Thomas realized that he really enjoyed the company of the other two boys. He could easily see them becoming close friends in no time. They constantly joked around during their downtime, and acted like a perfectly functioning machine when traveling. They reacted to each other without needing to verbally communicate. Although, it also helped that two of them were telepathic.<p>

Newt had yet to speak to him in that way since Thomas had asked him not to earlier. It was kind of a relief, but he missed it in a strange way. For some reason it felt like one of his lungs weren't functioning and only half his system was working. It made focusing more difficult and finally the dam burst. He needed to use his freaky mind powers.

_Is telepathic stuff normal? Can Minho do it too?_

They were currently edging around another back alleyway corner as Thomas thought this. A loud scraping noise dragged out behind the wall in the next street. Everyone had been on edge, so it wasn't a surprise when Newt jumped nearly out of his skin at his questions. The blonde quickly calmed himself and schooled his expression back to a neutral one. Meanwhile, Minho nearly reacted to Newt's freak out by swinging his barbaric looking sword cleaver thing at the blonde in front of him.

_No, it's just us as far as I know. Jeez Tommy, nearly gave me a bloody heart attack._

Thomas frowned, confused by Newt's answer. The blonde seemed almost confident in his telepathic abilities. He had been convinced that there were others out there until now.

_But you're so… I don't know how to phrase this. You seem like you've done this before with someone else._

He watched as Newt's jaw clenched slightly as he stared ahead down the next street. "It's clear, let's head down two more blocks then take a right. It looks like some cranks decided to have a feast down there last night."

They broke off sprinting down the main street. Newt never answered his question and Thomas wasn't expecting him to. He didn't pry since he barely knew the blonde, but it didn't mean that he was dying to know what his reaction meant. There had to have been some story behind the defensive posture that came forth at the innocent question.

They turned down another side street, as they got closer to the pile of gore and human remains in a once giant intersection.

"Recognize anyone back there?" Minho asked quietly with a slightly joking manor.

Thomas almost cracked a smile as Newt sighed in exasperation at his friend. The blonde didn't even bother to look back and acknowledge the inappropriate question.

"So how much farther until we get to… Wherever we're going?" Thomas finally voiced up from the back to distract himself from the smell of rotting flesh.

"Not much farther. Just a few more side streets and the stadium should be coming up on the right." Minho said as he stepped over a fallen street lamppost.

True to his word, within the next few minutes a giant stadium came into view past the giant skyscrapers surrounding them. It looked secure against the torn up buildings left standing. A giant fortress filled with a few remaining survivors in this messed up world. Which reminded Thomas of something very important that he needed to ask.

"Hey guys, I know this may seem like a dumb question, but what happened here exactly. And what's with all the zombies and destruction?"

"And the number one question comes out," Newt sighed out as they began approaching the massive building in front of them. "None of us really know. We all are wondering what's going on too. We can all remember how the world and society used to function, but none of us can remember our past lives before all this started."

"You guys can't remember anything either?!"

"Hey, lower your voice, Greenie. We don't want to attract any unwanted attention. Just because it's daytime doesn't mean we're completely in the clear." Minho said warningly.

"Like I was saying," Newt began after a beat of silence. "No, we can't remember. All we know is that we have to survive and stay away from the cranks that come out at night. They're not really zombies, but you can still get infected if you get bitten by one. It's not a pleasant experience either from what I've seen."

"Then what are-?"

"Yeah! You guys made it back!" An excited voice sounded from above in the stadium, although the person wasn't visible to them. "Raise the front gates, Newt and Minho's back… and a newbie!"

The blonde let out an amused chuckle as Minho rolled his eyes before laughing along as well. "So much for being quiet."

They entered one the stadium's side entrances, and made their way through the generously sized corridors before finding some stairs that led into the field. The midafternoon light turned everything into a fiery sunset orange that reflected off the shiny metal bleacher seats. The area where the field once was had a bunch of trees, farming areas, and wooden buildings. Everything looked orderly and efficient as dozens of boys milled about doing different activities.

"We were so worried about you guys! You didn't come back last night, and you weren't with the morning group, so we just assumed the worst." The same voice from before spoke up as a chubby boy a little shorter than Thomas hobbled down from the bleachers.

"Hey Chuck, go fetch us some water will ya? We've been traveling all day and the Greenie here looks like he's about to pass out." Newt commanded as he gestured towards Thomas.

Feeling a bit put on the spot; Thomas felt his insides squirm as they all observed him like he was about to collapse. He didn't think he was about to pass out, but now that Newt mentioned it he did feel strangely shaky and numb. All the physical activity from the day had yet to really hit him.

It was going to suck when it did.

"Yeah, sure thing," Chuck responded shortly after before glancing towards Minho and doing a double take. "Ah, should I get a med-jack too? That looks pretty bad."

Thomas turned to see what the new boy meant and winced in sympathy. A large bruise had spread out across the boy's left cheek; it was a mottled dark color with a few scarlet veiny lines trailing away from it. Apparently he had put more muscle into his punch than he'd previously thought…

"It didn't look like that earlier," Newt commented with a neutral tone while his eyes flashed brightly with amusement. "You know, Chuck, I think a med-jack would be great."

The younger boy nodded, still staring at the painful looking bruise before he scurried off to go do what the blonde asked of him. He seemed like the sort of kid that Thomas could get along with easily.

Looking around once more at the enormous stadium, Thomas exhaled a huge sigh of relief before glancing back towards Minho and Newt. The two were already discussing plans and other related inside things that Thomas couldn't keep up with yet. Before long, they were attracting all sorts of attention from the other residents in the stadium.

As other people began to approach, Thomas felt himself moving closer towards the other two boys. He felt strangely nervous about the sudden intense stares from several different people. It felt like he had done something wrong that he couldn't remember doing. He could practically feel himself getting judged silently by the dozens of people surrounding him.

Sensing the rising tension from the rapidly swarming group, Newt spoke up with much more authority in his voice than usual.

"This here is Thomas! He's gonna be our new Greenie!"

Silence rang back at them strangely for another couple of seconds. An occasional whisper or two could be heard until an answering voice made itself known.

"We'll see about that," A gruffer voice cut in as a Hispanic teenager pushed his way through the crowd. He towered above most of the boys and seemed to be the alpha dog in the pack of wolves. "I'm the one that makes the final decisions like that around here."

Piercing eyes swept past Newt who stood stiffly between Thomas and the new threat. Beside the blonde, Minho clenched his fists warningly and mumbled something under his breath.

"The council is the one who decides, not you alone." Newt stated firmly as the guy moved closer to the center trio.

"I think the council will agree with me on this one," The older teenager said with a cocky tone. "I think the bite wound on his arm is evidence enough that he should be kicked out and left on the streets to die!"

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><p><strong>AN: Cliffhangers are so evil… Oh well. I'm glad you guys seem to be enjoying this story so far. I'll probably update again in two days since I'm going to be dead tired after college tomorrow. Also, I have nothing against Jorge, but yeah he needed to be the somewhat villain in this story for it to work out later on…**


	3. Chapter 3: A Council's Decision

**The Cure**

Chapter 3: A Council's Decision

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><p>Pushing and shoving past cries of outrage, Thomas was corralled into a strange tree house on the other side of the field. It was absolutely bizarre; the place was huge and impressively built. Although it did seem unnecessary with an already existing shelter surrounding them, it was obviously well used and taken care of. The multiple rooming areas in the indoor part of the stadium didn't feel nearly the same as this house built from scratch.<p>

Upon walking in, there was a large living quarters complete with a few raggedy couches and multiple bookshelves. They were all crammed full of random assortments of objects and belongings. Then from there were a bunch of different rooms that branched off, most of which appeared to be bedrooms. There was a second upstairs floor, but Thomas didn't get to see it.

Instead he was dragged further into the place and down into a basement area hidden behind one of the doors. A group of boys followed after without hesitation while Thomas was filled was apprehension about the dark corridor before him. Sensing his uncertainty, Minho placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him an understanding look.

"It's not too scary down there," He assured before he stepped down into the darkness. "It's mostly just your company that you have to worry about."

His side comment succeeded in drawing a brief smile before Thomas trailed after at a slower pace. Newt and the other boy had trailed on ahead of the others and were probably waiting for everyone wherever they were. Thomas had a sneaking suspicion that the angry guy's name was Jorge, the leader of the group. After his declaration in the field a little while ago, Thomas' left arm had felt like lead. There was a faint scarring of puckered white tissue in the shape of a bite mark on his forearm. It looked like it had come from a human, which was a huge deal apparently to this group of guys.

He remembered his conversation with Newt about the cranks and how they were similar to zombies yet they weren't exactly alike. Was he going to turn into one of those monsters? It didn't really make sense though since the wound had had time to scar. Shouldn't he have already turned already?

_Tommy, do me a favor will ya?_

Thomas jerked his head up, nearly expecting the blonde to be standing right next to him. He still wasn't exactly used to this telepathic stuff. Steadying himself on the stonewall beside him, Thomas focused his thoughts and answered back.

_What?_

There was a moment's pause on Newt's end; he was probably busy dealing with the other guys in the room. It seemed like he was in a higher leadership position, and that would take up a lot of his concentration there. Thomas couldn't imagine keeping up with two conversations at once. It already felt like he was giving himself the beginnings of a migraine headache from the amount of times he'd used his telepathic abilities today.

_I don't mean to offend. Just… don't talk to me this way during the meeting, will ya? In fact, I want you to stay silent unless talked to directly by someone. _

_ Wait, a meeting? _

_ Yeah, a meeting about that bloody bite mark._

_ What if it goes poorly though? What if I get kicked out?_

Thomas entered the room to the dimly lit basement. A single light bulb hanging from the ceiling was their only light source. There were about five guys in the room already, seated in fold out chairs around the wall. Newt was busy trying to do damage control as their enraged leader tried riling up the other boys in the room. However, as Thomas took a few steps in, he asked the last question again and watched as Newt winced in pain. It seemed like the headaches were a common side affect for the blonde as well.

Stressed brown eyes found his before Newt bit his lower lip and looked back at the other boys.

_I don't know. Let me handle this. Now shush!_

They made Thomas sit on the dirt floor near the entrance, and he groaned in relief at finally being able to sit. He could care less that he was sitting on a gross floor; it felt like heaven at the moment.

Jorge and Newt sat at the back rounded part of the U shaped group in the very center. They were on the exact opposite side of the room as Thomas and both were looking very tense. There were eight other boys in the room, each of them ranging from looking curious, worried, and nervous. It looked like they could really be swayed either way at this point.

"Let's get this bloody over with," Newt began with a frustrated huff. "Basically what's going to happen is that all the keepers here get to pitch in their ideas and decide what's going to happen to you. Jorge and I can intervene at anytime, and in the end we'll vote on the most fitting option." Glancing briefly to his right, Newt addressed the other leader of the group. "Would you like to go first?"

"Well obviously this kid is getting kicked out! He's one of the infected! He's one of the cranks!" Jorge blurted out instantly as he stood up to gesture at Thomas in the corner. "There's no way we're letting this here, _muchacho_, stay and infect us all later on."

"He's not one of them," Newt argued calmly from his seat like he wasn't trying to sway people not to kill him. "He would have changed already. It's an old wound."

"Thomas seems like a sane guy to me," Minho cut in before Jorge could start yelling again. "Plus, Newt and I have known him longer than any other shuck-face here. I think we would know by now if he was turning into a crank."

Thomas felt his tense muscles uncoil a bit as the other boy chimed in to defend him as well. He wasn't sure if the guy liked him enough to help out his cause after the whole punching incident.

"No one knows that for sure. He might just be hiding it. Do you guys want to just wait around like last time? That obviously went so well." The Hispanic man said seething. "I thought we were smarter than this? It's only been a half a year, and we're already experimenting with bitten people again!"

"I agree with Jorge. We should just throw this klunk out of here. It's not worth risking our safety." Another boy piped up with a voice filled with conviction on the matter.

"Oh, slim it, Gally. Newt's got more reason than most to not defend this Greenie and he's still sticking up for him." Minho said determinedly from his place by the blonde. Gally across the room from him sneered at his reasoning while he continued on. "It takes three days tops for someone to become a crank. Why not just let him stay for another day in the prison to make sure? We're going to be killing a healthy normal guy if we decide to kick him out, I'm sure."

Shaking his head in disagreement, Gally turned towards the other boys. "Frypan. Winston. You don't believe this load of klunk, do you? We obviously need to make sure our safety is top priority. We can't leave this kid to his own devices around here while we sleep at night. Who knows what he'll do."

"Exactly, he needs to go!" Jorge said venomously.

Thomas tried to hold onto a neutral expression as they discussed his fate like he didn't exist in the room at that moment. It sucked not being able to defend himself, but Newt told him not to speak unless spoken to. At several moments he almost interrupted, but he refrained from doing so just barely.

"Well, let's wrap this up then, since we seem to be getting nowhere, and I'm bloody exhausted." Newt sighed once the room quieted down. "Thomas," He began slowly as if to remind himself not to say his nickname out loud. "Feel free to defend yourself."

"Ah…" The teen hesitated upon seeing the intense stares from the other ten boys in the room. Jorge sat back in his seat and turned his gaze towards the ground. The guy looked frustrated and ready for this meeting to be over with. Meanwhile, Newt rubbed his hand over his eyes tiredly and sat back in his seat, facing away from Thomas as well.

Thomas coughed awkwardly before starting his miserable speech to save his life. "Well, I'm Thomas. I woke up yesterday, and I don't remember anything except for these last two days. I don't even remember getting bitten. And ah well I'm completely up for trying that prison idea you guys mentioned to make sure I'm normal or whatever. I don't feel like one of those monsters… er cranks, but yeah."

"So we seem to have reached two options. Either kick him out or lock him up for a few days." Newt said plainly as he turned to look at everyone.

"Anyone else got anymore ideas? Like say tossing him off the side of the stadium?" Jorge suggested with a sadistic grin. "Just to make sure this one won't be coming back."

No one spoke up until finally Newt took over again, "Okay, voting time. You shanks already know our votes here." The blonde looked over to the big, brooding guy seated furthest down the row from Gally. "You start first Zart and we'll work our way around."

It was terrifyingly close until the last few council boys went. By the end only four people had voted to have him kicked out, and the other six wanted the prison sentence.

Although, Thomas barely had time to feel grateful for the people who helped him when Jorge yanked him to his feet. The older boy grabbed the back of his dirty grey shirt and pushed him out of the room. "I'm taking him to his cell to get him all nice and cozy. I'll be back in a moment."

Thomas panicked for a brief moment about being alone with Jorge. Who knew if the guy still felt the urge to throw him off the top of the stadium? Thomas was sure that he could put up a decent fight, but there was no way he could win in his current state. Thankfully, the guy led him inside the stadium walls and roughly shoved him into one of the vacated areas where one of the food concessions used to be. Without a word, the guy pulled a down the security bars used to lock down the shop. The crisscrossed secured metal bars didn't look like they would budge anytime soon. Something clicked over to the side as Jorge locked it into place before he turned around and walked back to the field.

Out of all the empty concession stalls he could have picked, Jorge had chosen the coldest one near multiple broken glass windows. The cool afternoon breeze drifted through the halls and into Thomas' new room. Maybe getting kicked out would have been better. At least then he could have found a decent abandoned apartment to spend the night in.

_You okay, Tommy? He didn't actually throw you off the roof, did he?_

Thomas chuckled and shook his head although the blonde couldn't see him.

_Nah, I'll live. It's really cold in here though. I might shiver to death before the end of the night._

He didn't get a response back, but he could've sworn he heard a brief second of laughter before the link cut off.

With a shrug, Thomas ventured around behind the stall and lied down on the tiled floor to get some rest. He felt like he could probably sleep out his entire sentence in this place if it wasn't so horribly uncomfortable. Before another thought ran through his mind though, he was out like a light.

* * *

><p>It was later on when a strange shuffling noise woke him from his slumber. However, as he sat up to go investigate an involuntary pained gasp escaped him as his body screamed in pain. Sleeping on the floor did not help his still recuperating body heal from whatever it had gone through.<p>

"Greenie? Are you there?"

The voice sounded familiar, and with some effort he managed to crawl around the counter towards the metal gate. "Yeah, I'm here. Who is it?"

A round, cheery face appeared, and instantly Thomas felt his guard slip as Chuck crouched down in front of him. "Sorry I'm late. I was going to see you earlier, but everyone was still freaking out. Then Jorge wouldn't tell anyone which cell he put you in. He's got guards everywhere in these corridors so I have to be quick."

The younger boy pulled out a sandwich and some fruit then handed them over. Thomas felt his stomach clench eagerly at the sight, but before he dug in, Chuck handed over something else through the bars.

"I couldn't find a spare pillow. Though I figured this would be better than nothing. Newt said you might be cold sleeping in here, especially at night." He explained while Thomas pulled the fleece blanket the rest of the way into the makeshift cell.

Glancing at the supplies, Thomas looked back up and thanked him as genuinely as he could. "Thanks Chuck. I really owe you one."

"No problem," The boy said with a nonchalant shrug. "I better get back though before they catch me. I'm not exactly a ninja here."

The image of people dressed completely head to toe in skintight black outfits popped into his head. They held a different assortment of weapons and moved around fluently with a technique that was called… ninjutsu? It was a weird thing to remember, but Thomas didn't think too hard about it. Maybe he wanted to be a ninja when he was growing up? It seemed like it would be a cool career to get into.

"Seriously thanks, Chuck. Goodnight."

"Night, see you tomorrow hopefully. I might be able to steal some extra snacks behind Frypan's back tomorrow during lunch."

As quietly as possible, Chuck snuck off down the corridor, and Thomas went back to his place behind the counter. Within no time the food had been devoured, and he was fast asleep cocooning himself in the soft blanket on the floor.

Hopefully tomorrow would be less eventful than his first two days of his new life.

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><p><strong>AN: This week is killing me. I'm so tired and stressed out by college, but everyone's reviews, favorites, and story alerts have helped a lot. I'm really happy that so many people are liking this so far. After the next chapter the plot should start thickening...**


	4. Chapter 4: Second-in-Command

**The Cure**

Chapter 4: Second-in-Command

* * *

><p>The next day went by so slow.<p>

It wasn't even an exaggeration either. The day was just taking it's freakishly long time to get done and over with already. By Thomas' estimate, it was still sometime in the morning and he was starving. The food that Chuck brought to him last night helped a lot, but now the hunger was back full force.

As if right on cue, his stomach gurgled desperately for food that he didn't have. All his hopes rested on someone else taking pity on remembering he existed for the day. Maybe then he could ask for some food, and a trip to the bathroom. He was not going in the bucket he found in the back.

Sighing, Thomas laid back down on the floor once more while using the blanket as a pillow. He lifted his arm and traced the distinguishable marks that got him stuck here in the first place. A moment's hesitation made him question if he really would turn into a crank. It sucked not knowing what exactly was going on in this crazy place. Was it just this city or the whole world? He knew for a fact that the world did not resemble anything like this during his childhood. So what happened?

He was tempted to reach out to Newt with his mind, but a dull warning ache had settled in the back of his skull. It was probably a side effect from using his telepathic abilities too much recently. Thomas couldn't deny that it was an invaluable asset to him and possibly Newt as well. Although it was strange how the blonde didn't even seemed phased at the discovery of his telepathic abilities. It didn't look like anyone else could do this as far as he knew.

Maybe these powers were a secret?

"Hey Greenie!"

Thomas jerked upwards in a heartbeat, his body tense before he realized whom it was. "Oh, it's just you, Minho."

"Just me?" The boy rolled his eyes and crouched down in front of the bars. "You should be honored that I decided to even stop by and visit you."

Thomas fought back a smile as he pretended to sigh dramatically before rolling over to face away from him. "I don't feel honored. You have to try harder."

"I've got food. Does that help?"

"Yes, that does actually," Thomas replied quickly, then he hurried over to Minho and accepted the delicious soup and another sandwich. Both were gone within two minutes, and then Thomas voiced his other pressing need.

"Is there a bathroom I can use?"

"Right behind you."

"I'm not using the bucket."

"Well I can't take you out yet. You might be a -" Minho glanced around for a dramatic effect before whispering, "- crank."

Leveling an unbreakable glare at the guy, Thomas watched as Minho's humor slowly drifted away.

"But no, in all seriousness, I can't let you out. You have to stay in the there until tomorrow morning just to make sure you aren't going to turn all nasty on us dudes."

"Dudes? So there are no girls here?" Thomas asked while ignoring the fact that he would end up having to use the stupid bucket.

"Nope, we're completely girl free right now. We've actually never had a girl in our group before. They must have all died off when all of this happened." Minho gestured towards one of the windows where the crumbling buildings were slowly decaying back to the ground. "But yeah, I should go. Chuck should stop by a little later to get you some more food. In the meantime, enjoy your bucket!"

"Shut up!" Thomas groaned before tossing his empty bowl at the laughing teen.

* * *

><p>By the time nightfall hit, Thomas had already taken several catnaps to pass the time. It was very disorienting to keep coming in and out of consciousness throughout the day. Still, at least it was something to do. Twice he had had dreams about the lab he was in when he first woke up. Something about him working at a computer desk checking over expensive looking monitors for something important.<p>

There was someone else with him in the dream. Yet, he couldn't remember any characteristics even though he knew that person was very close to him. It felt like an itch he just couldn't scratch. Thomas wish there was a way to figure out who they were, but he had no way of figuring it out. He would just have to be patient and let it come to him even if it drove him crazy in the meantime. It was sad that he already knew that waiting wasn't one of his strong suits.

After slipping in and out of sleep during the night, and using the bucket only when it was absolutely necessary, morning eventually arrived. At the first brink of daylight, Thomas was pacing anxiously in front of the bars keeping him there. He needed out of this place because there was no way he could survive another day in the cell. Thomas wanted to be outside doing things, not wasting time in a cement box of boredom.

Luckily only ten minutes later, a disgruntled blonde showed up with an annoyed look on his face. "I can't believe you woke me up at this bloody awful hour of the day. It's barely even morning yet."

"I woke you up?" Thomas curiously asked while Newt fiddled with the gate mechanism before pulling it upwards and out of the way.

Without answering out loud, the blonde gave him a deadpanned look before closing his eyes. Instantly, Thomas felt like something had grabbed onto him and was squeezing his insides. Pure negative emotion gripped his mind with a solid hold before it was snatched away as Newt eased up on the link. He gasped and reached out to catch himself on Newt's shoulder, who quickly steadied him then backed away.

"Now imagine waking up feeling like you're having the worst panic attack ever. Then realizing that it's not even your own shucking anxiety that you're feeling. It's bloody awful is what it is." Newt explained before he began limping away.

Thomas blinked in surprise, feeling bad for not realizing that he had opened the link on his telepathic end. Had he been doing that yesterday too without realizing it? Was it even possible to project his own boredom onto Newt? He didn't even want to image how horrible that would feel.

"Look I'm sorry, I didn't even know I was doing-" Thomas started to apologize when Newt interrupted up ahead.

"No, I realize that. It's not really your fault. It's just been… Forget it." The blonde sighed as he seemed to recall something emotionally draining before gesturing for Thomas to follow. "So, I'm going to give you a tour like I should've done two days ago. Obviously you're not a crank, and now you can start being one of us now if you want to join that is. No one's forcing you to be a glader."

"Glader?"

"Just a general term that we like to call ourselves. We call the field outside the glade, and that's where generally everyone stays. We only stay in the inside part of the stadium for bad weather usually, or if we get lookout duty like Chuck."

They entered the glade and Thomas felt the childish urge to run around in the open space before him. He had been cooped up far too long in that tiny room.

Crossing his arms across his chest, and observing the early rising gladers making their way towards their job sights, Newt calmly said, "Alright, now let's find you a job. It shouldn't take that long, hopefully."

* * *

><p>There were so many things to learn.<p>

Thomas thought most of it was kind of pointless, but by the time afternoon rolled around, he was beginning to get the hang of things. He understood the different basic jobs of the glade. That and he also knew that he didn't want to do any of them. None of them really stood out and made him think '_oh, that's definitely the one.'_

"So the track-hoes job isn't doing it for ya either?" Newt asked with a skeptical look. "I thought you would take to it, but ah shuck it all." The blonde stuck his cleaver blade into the dirt then limped back towards Thomas.

"Isn't there anything else?"

"No, not really," Newt shook his head in disbelief. "Come on, you have choose one, Tommy."

Thomas glanced down to avoid the blonde's gaze as he waited for him to make a decision. He was in a really sucky position not knowing what he wanted to do. Everything sounded awful, and he at least wanted to do something that he was interested in or good at.

Leaning against one of the trees by the cornfield, Newt huffed out an impatient breath. "What are a few you don't want to do for sure?"

"Med-jacks, baggers, sloppers, slicers, bricknicks, builders…" Thomas trailed off before he could name the last two.

"Fine, then pick between cooking and track-hoes. Shouldn't be that bad of a bloody decision now." The blonde muttered exasperatedly.

The image of sixty angry boys chasing after him for accidently cooking them up some crappy food popped into his head. He knew for a fact that he couldn't cook to save his life. There was really no choice in what he had to pick. "Okay, I'll do this," Thomas mumbled while gesturing to the cornfield in front of them.

"And he makes a decision!" Newt shouted exaggeratingly. He reached out to pat Thomas on the back, his nearly permanent agitated mood finally broken. "Excellent choice, Tommy. I volunteer a lot in this group whenever I get a break in leader duties. So, we'll be seeing each other a lot more."

"Leader duties? Isn't that Jorge's job?" Thomas asked with a less than cheerful tone that he didn't bother masking. He didn't understand what that guy's problem was with him. Even now after he had proven himself, he could see people keeping an eye on him in the distance. It was better when Newt was around, but when left to his own devices, he felt like he was being observed like a lab rat. They were just waiting for the opportunity to catch him screwing up.

"Second-in-command duties then. I've always held the position. I'm kind of like a fill in leader whenever the real one is gone or whatever." Newt explained.

"Then what about, Minho?"

"What about him?"

"What does he do?" Thomas couldn't exactly picture the guy doing any of these dull jobs either.

"I'll get to that later, but he has the special job right below the glade leaders." Newt's tone was cautious as he stepped past Thomas to head back towards the barn. Thomas noticed that his limp seemed to be getting worse as the day passed by, but he refused to comment on it. The dark mood from before seemed to settle back on the blonde's shoulders as the seconds ticked away.

They hung up their equipment before heading for their next destination; however, another boy that Thomas didn't know the name of quickly intercepted them.

"They can't find Ben anywhere. He's been missing since the runners came back yesterday." The boy gasped for breath while Newt thought about what he said for a moment.

Thomas watched in interest as the blonde's demeanor changed to a more calculative and serious personality. The calm and relaxed attitude he had seen from the guy was gone in a heartbeat. Instead, he finally got to see the authoritative side of the guy that he was tentatively calling his friend.

"When's the last time someone saw him?"

"Out in the city. The others say he was chasing after the cranks and just disappeared. He never showed up at the meeting spot, and everyone assumed that he just ran back to the stadium. That or he just never came back at all." The other boy finished as he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

Nodding in understanding, Newt's eyes flashed up to meet the younger boy's before he started giving commands. "We're not sending a search party out tonight. It's almost sundown and we're not risking more lives for some unlucky shank that couldn't follow orders. I'll have Minho gather a few more runners tomorrow and have them scope out the place where we last saw the cranks."

The blonde turned towards Thomas and pointed at the unnamed guy. "Follow him to the kitchen, I don't want you getting lost. I'm going to talk to a few of the guys and get this bloody mess figured out. I'll see ya later after dinner."

With that said, the blonde limped away with a determined look set on his face. Thomas blinked and turned away to follow after the other teen. He didn't need a guide to show him where the kitchen was; he had been working there for part of the day after all. He had in fact worked at all the jobs for at least an hour today. There must have been another reason for the escort accompanying him.

Stumbling towards the main tree house building in the glade, Thomas glanced around and felt unsettled right away. While most everyone was hard at work, doing their jobs and minding their own business, a few weren't. A couple guys in the field watched him warily with guarded expressions of barely masked disgust.

It seemed like a few people didn't agree with the council's final verdict on letting him stay just yet.

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><p><strong>AN: I'm going to be pretty busy for the next few days, so it might be a little while for the next update. In other news though, I just watched the Boxtrolls movie this week. It was so cute. I highly recommend watching it. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, and thank you guys for all the support so far :)**


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